Russiaâ€™s ambassador to the UK was summoned to the Foreign Office on Thursday after two Russian bombers disrupted civilian air traffic over the English Channel. The RAF scrambled fighters to intercept them.

The incident is the latest increasingly tense brush with Russian aircraft in the skies above Britain and other Nato-countriesâ€™ borders.

It was also one of the most serious around British airspace so far, according to Whitehall officials. Russiaâ€™s ambassador, Alexander Yakovenko was last summoned by the Foreign Office in July over an incident involving the expulsion of a diplomat. He has not been called to account for increased Russian aerial activity by Britain before.

Moscowâ€™s relationship with Nato has deteriorated after European nations imposed sanctions on Russia over its military involvement in eastern Ukraine and its annexation of Crimea last year.

The two huge Russian Tu-95 bombers, known by fighter pilots as bears, flew across one of the busiest civilian flightpaths in Europe and had their transponders turned off, meaning that they could only be detected by radar and would have been invisible on regular air traffic control systems.

The UKâ€™s air traffic controller, Nats, was forced to re-route commercial flights as a result. The decision was a â€œprecautionary measure,â€ a government official said.

Well these giants Tu-95 bombers may gone out of favour in current era, but they are sill the pride of Russian Naval Aviation.

Bears were their best bet against US Carrier Fleet during the Cold War Era. It is normal to see Russian bombers being intercepted in international waters and then being escorted, however they rarely fly over NATO skies.